


The Child Who Gave Me a Name

by Khloris



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: Character Death, Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 09:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18518848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khloris/pseuds/Khloris
Summary: If he hadn’t escaped, none of this would have happened.





	The Child Who Gave Me a Name

**Author's Note:**

> Previously written fanfic from unknown date (~2016)

If he hadn’t escaped, none of this would have happened.

He wouldn’t have had to fight against Yubaba, as she stormed across his riverbank in an attempt to ensnare him into her hands again.

The river wouldn’t have gone wild, in an attempt to slip through her ring-covered fingers.

Chihiro wouldn’t have slipped on the wet mud during her monthly visit and gotten lost in the swirling shades of green and blue as he fought without realizing her predicament.

It was only when Yubaba gave up that he found her pink shoe, water-logged from the hours that it had spent buried in the debris of his still uncleaned territory.

Haku’s hands trembled as soon as he reverted back to his human form, fingers grasping almost blindly at the bright pink, strapped shoe. Even though he could tell that it had been a long time, he still looked frantically around for the one he loved, praying to a God he didn’t know existed in his mind. It was only when he saw the police cars and the human couple wailing by a water soaked figure that his heart shattered to a million fragments.

She was the curiosity that shone a light in his heart. Just appearing out of nowhere like a ghost, starling him as he encountered the human girl face-to-face with his unnatural spiritual form. Haku had felt the sudden need to protect the innocent, confused child, her mind only as young as a newborn baby in his weathered eyes. It was her courage that took her across obstacles and the harshness of the world, just to save whom she called her “parents.” But it was through her gentle, caring nature that saved him, reminding him of who he once was. It was the first time anyone had cried for him before, and all he could do was open his heart to the love he had almost forgotten.

Now… just two days after finding her shoe, he stared at the boat floating across the river, the hull blocking out the sunlight that used to shine brightly into his home, his soul. Haku walked below it until it was far away from the shore that the mourners along the bank wouldn’t see him.

As he popped his head out from the surface, he had to choke back a sob as he saw the vividly remembered stripped shirt that Chihiro always wore when she had been stuck in the bathhouse or came to visit him. She had only been able to meet him once outside in the living world, and it had been such a beautiful day, full of smiles and hugs as they chatted about their days. It was only ironic and cruel of the world to take her away on her second visit, just because she was there in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Haku placed a white flower between her hands, the petals drooping slightly, a dragon entwined like a vine around its stem. It sat there, slightly curved across her chest, the top it barely brushing the bottom of her chin. He looked at her for another minute or so, but as it reached the other side of the bank to where they would take her to be cremated, he had to sink back into the depths of the water.

It was only when they took her out of the boat that it really tore into him. The shoe that he had tied to his waist fell to the ground, which he then picked up. As he stared at the pink object, Haku fell to his knees as he gripped the shoe in a tight fist. His lips tasted salt, an extinct feeling in the freshwater river, and it was only when he brought his hands to his face that he realized that they were tears. He wiped at it with his hands, but they only continued to fall more and more down his cheeks. A sob finally broke out of his throat as he slammed his hand across his mouth, but nothing could stop his anguish now.

Chihiro was gone.


End file.
